


Aftermath

by AmberLehcar



Series: Aftermath [2]
Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Black Blood, F/M, Family Drama, Gen, Next Generation, OCs - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-24
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-12 20:59:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/816001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberLehcar/pseuds/AmberLehcar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With revenge on her mind, Karma enrolls at Shibusen alongside her friends. But the new generation of weapons and meisters are up against a new group of witches who fight for the rights they believe they deserve. And can Karma overcome the demons of her past?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Injured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath is being made into an audio drama. For those interested in this drama, follow the link here to the trailer and keep updated on the episodes' release dates! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87CLYPqaWrs

A soft summer breeze fingered through the woman's crimson hair high above the school. All was quiet, save for the occasional flap of the wings of the large bird the woman rode on. A single, yellow feather drifted down to the steps below.

"Shibusen..." the woman whispered to herself. "Why do you look so peaceful...?" She sighed and patted the bird's head lovingly. "Let us leave, Nuri. I'm afraid we have nothing to report to Lady Mabaa. We should hurry, though. Naomi will want dinner soon, and you know how she can be when she is left hungry for too long." The two flew away without another sound. Only a pair of golden eyes from one of the school's windows watched their departure.

…

"A large yellow feather was found on the steps of Shibusen this morning. Its origin is unknown, but the director of the school insists it is nothing for students or any of Death City's citizens to be concerned about," the anchorwoman on the television reported.

A silver-haired teenager sat in front of the television, her face nearly pressed up against the screen."That huge bird from that kid's show maybe?" she joked, her mouth full of toast.

"Karma! Sayuri's here! Hurry up!" the sweet voice of her mother called from the kitchen.

"On the way!" the girl replied. Grabbing her black jacket and running to the kitchen, she quickly downed a glass of orange juice, threw her hand up in a sort of wave to her mother, and ran out the door to meet her meister. The blue-haired meister stood in the driveway with her arms crossed and one white boot tapping impatiently. "Sayuri, quit getting here so freaking early! I keep having to get up ten minutes earlier!"

"You keep insisting on taking this metal death trap to school!" Sayuri whined, pointing to the motorcycle in the driveway. "I think safety matters a little more than a few extra minutes of sleep."

"I think the ride would be safer if I was well rested. Just saying," Karma hissed, climbing aboard her motorcycle.

Sayuri stamped her foot and turned away from her weapon. "I'm walking!"

"Like hell you are! Get on!" the weapon shrieked, pulling on Sayuri's arm. The meister sighed in defeat and carefully climbed onto the vehicle. "Alright! Shibusen, here we come!"

The two pulled away from the house with a screech, Karma's mother and brother watching from the front door. "Seriously, Mom, you let Karma drive that thing but not me?" Michael complained.

"It was a gift from your father..." Maka explained. "She doesn't know. Let's let her think that I gave it to her a little bit longer, shall we? Now, where is your weapon?"

"Tatsuya said he's walking alone..." the boy growled. "First day of school and he can't walk with me? We are partners after all."

"Don't worry. I think he's just nervous, it being the first day and all. Things will get better," Maka said. Kissing his cheek, she wished her son good luck on his first day and watched him walk in the direction of Shibusen. "Oh, Soul..." she whispered, "if only you could see them now..."

…

Sayuri's grip around Karma's middle loosened a bit as they made their way down the streets of Death City. "I'm really sorry about earlier," Sayuri shouted over the wind whipping around them. "I know I'm safe with you driving, but I can't help but worry."

"Relax! I got this," her weapon reassured her. There was no way she would ever let any harm come to Sayuri. That was her job, wasn't it? To protect her meister?

"Hey, doesn't driving this thing ever remind you of your dad?"

The motorcycle swerved to the right suddenly, catching Sayuri off guard and emitting a scream from her throat. "Woah, sorry, sorry!" the weapon apologized.

"What the heck was that, Karma?" Sayuri screamed, holding onto her weapon tighter.

"It was... a squirrel! I didn't want to run it over, so I had to dodge it!" Karma explained.

"There was no squirrel!"

"How do you know? Were your eyes on the road?"

"There was no squirrel!" Sayuri insisted.

"Trust me, there was a squirrel. Now can you just sit back and enjoy the ride?" Karma sighed in relief as her meister went quiet. The scar under her right eye prickled uncomfortably. Any mention of  _him_  caused the sensation. Of course riding her motorcycle reminded her of  _him_. Most everything did...

"I remember thinking he was pretty cool when we were kids. Mom and Daddy said I could never go on a ride with him though... They said he'd been in a few accidents with his bike, but I don't remember seeing any scars or anything," Sayuri rambled on. "But I suppose scars heal in time, huh?"

Karma lifted a hand to her face, lightly brushing her scar and willing the now burning sensation away. "Not all scars..."

…

The sun yawned as it reluctantly made its ascent into the sky. A young man sat on the steps of Shibusen, his dark locks falling in front of his eyes. He stared at his hands. "This is it, huh? There's no turning back from here..."

"Tatsuya~!" Sayuri's familiar sing-song voice called out to him, pulling him from his thoughts. The girl ran over to him and threw her arms around him. "Good to see you again! We hardly saw you at all this summer!"

Tatsuya gave a small smile and returned the hug. "Sorry. I needed to train by myself for a little while."

"But you and Michael could have trained with Karma and I, you know?" Sayuri said, releasing the boy. "Speaking of Karma, where is she? She was just behind me a second ago..."

Karma had hidden herself along the side of the grand staircase. She placed a hand over her racing heart. "Calm down... This is so not cool..." she whispered to herself. The girl looked up at the boy as he ran a hand through his hair.

They had met at the entrance ceremony a few weeks back. Karma and Sayuri had grown up together, joking that they were cousins because their families were so close. It only made sense for them to be that close. Black Star and Tsubaki themselves even joked about being her mother's big brother and sister. Especially after her father left... In any case, Sayuri had stood by Karma's side practically since birth. When Karma learned she could transform into a scythe, Sayuri was determined to become her meister. So why go to Shibusen's opening ceremony, held really only to help match up weapons and meisters, when the two were already partners?

Karma's younger brother, Michael, was a gifted meister, even able to wield his grandfather, Spirit Albarn, with ease. However, finding a weapon was difficult for him. So the girls agreed to go to the ceremony as moral support. And that was how it all began...

…

" _Michael, I'm so proud of you! You're going to be in Shibusen with me and your big sister~!" Sayuri sang as she pulled the boy right into her impressive breasts. Michael's nose began to bleed. "Oh no! Are you hurt?" she screamed holding him tighter. "It'll be okay! I'll take care of you!"_

_Karma shook her head in disbelief. It was obvious to everyone but Sayuri that Michael was head-over-heels in love with her. "Maybe you should let him go before he stains your dress," the scythe suggested, attempting to pull her brother from her meister's grip._

_Suddenly, Michael was ripped from Sayuri's arms and held up in the air by a young man with dark brown hair and eyes the same color. For Karma, it was love at first sight. "Figured I'd step in before this guy died of blood loss," he said in a voice as smooth as chocolate. Setting Michael down, the young man noticed his badge. "Meister, huh?"_

" _Uh, yeah..." Michael answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Kinda looking for a certain kind of weapon. Something like a scythe or a sword or something like that. But maybe that makes me picky..."_

" _Or lucky," the young man replied. He held out his hand to Michael in greeting. "Tatsuya Iijima. I'm a broadsword."_

…

"Tatsuya... Iijima..." Karma whispered, loving the way the name rolled off her tongue. She shook her head violently. How could she fall in love? She was not the romantic type at all! She didn't need a man in her life! But somehow she'd fallen for him anyway...

"Hey, Scar Face, now that we're done playing hide and seek, you wanna join us?" Karma jumped in surprise, finally noticing Tatsuya in front of her. "Woah, didn't mean to scare you. Come on, let's get this first day started, huh?" He smiled at her.

She felt weak in the knees suddenly from the smile. But upon further inspection, she noticed the smile seemed... almost forced. Why would he force a smile for her...? Deciding not to think much of it, she returned the smile with her own tiny, toothy grin and said, "Sure, let's get go-"

"Tatsuya!" a female voice called out. Karma recognized her from the opening ceremony but never really knew her name. The girl ran up to the two and took Tatsuya's arm, dragging him up the stairs. "I missed you all summer! We've got so much to catch up on!"

Tatsuya sighed in defeat and let the girl drag him away. He gave a quick wave to Karma before disappearing into the huge building. Karma waved back too late for him to see. "Catch you later, I guess..." Another arrow through her heart that day.


	2. Sinking

Karma peered over the top of the gore-filled pages of her manga at the classroom below her. The three of them sat like ducks in a row at the front of the classroom, Sayuri, Michael, and Tatsuya. After what had happened that morning, the scythe couldn't bring herself to sit with them, especially since the girl from that morning insisted on sitting next to Tatsuya. Sighing, she returned to her manga. Midway through Uncle Black Star's lesson, she had wondered why she was more irritable than usual. "Coffee..." she whimpered quietly to herself. "Need... coffee..."

A shurikan whizzed past her face and stuck into the wall behind her. "Got an answer for me, Karma?" Black Star asked angrily. She glared at him and shook her head. "Bet you didn't even hear the question. Question was 'Why can't all weapons and meisters resonate together?'"

Karma thought back to a discussion she and her mother had had when she was young. "Karma, did you know that everyone has a certain song in their heart? It's the sound that their wavelength makes. When weapons and meisters resonate, they can hear the others' soul as a song," Maka had explained. "Some songs mesh well together, so the partners can resonate to an even higher rate. But some songs don't mesh at all, and the resonance can't even begin. Your papa and Black Star could never resonate because of their different songs."

"Their songs," Karma answered. "Not everyone's songs mesh well."

"Not really the answer we were looking for, sorry," Black Star replied. As he rambled on with his lesson, Karma sunk even deeper into her seat. Her answer wasn't wrong. Her mama wasn't wrong.

But she had always wondered why she and Sayuri could resonate so well. Her own soul was jazzy, busy, kind of all over the place. Sayuri's was beautiful, relaxing, almost haunting. It just didn't make sense to her. "Oh well, best not worry about it. So long as we can resonate, I guess that's the important part," Karma whispered, picking up her manga again. But she found it hard to focus on the words and images before her. She closed her eyes as her thoughts wandered to the dreams she'd been having.

Night after night, an enormous white creature attacked her in her dreams. She'd wake with her scar burning as if someone had placed a hot poker on her face. She'd have to see Stein about it once lessons were done for the day. They were due for a session soon anyway. She and Stein had been friends since the night her father left her, and he now served as her counselor. He was the one that had stitched up her face, leaving her with her signature scar.

For a brief moment, the sounds of Black Star's lecture faded away and the scent of burning candles filled Karma's nose. She knew for a fact there were no candles in the classroom. She also felt an almost sinking sensation, as if something below her melting away, attempting to pull her down and swallow her up. Opening her eyes, she discovered that everything was as normal as when she had closed them. Well, with the exception of Black Star in her face.

"Congrats! You've got detention!" the teacher said.

"Seriously? On the first day? Gimme a break, Black Star..."

"'Black Star-sensei' while at school, Karma."

"Bite me..."

"How about a week's worth of detention?" Black Star threatened, now furious.

Karma sighed and raised her manga over head head. "Karma... CHOP!" she shouted, bringing the book down on her teacher's head.

"Daddy!" Sayuri screamed as she ran to her father's side.

Karma sprinted down the steps and out the classroom door, throwing an apology to Sayuri and Black Star over her shoulder. She ran until she found an empty, dark hallway to catch her breath in. "Mama's gonna kill me..." she whispered, running a hand through her hair. "I can't just lose my temper at school and think I can get away with it... At home, Chopping Black Star would be somewhat acceptable behavior, but in front of the whole class...?"

"You did what in front of the whole class?" a familiar voice asked in disbelief. Karma looked up to see Marie Mjolnir staring at her. "Did I hear that right? You Karma Chopped Black Star in the middle of class?"

"He was threatening me with detention when I did do jack shit!" the scythe hissed.

Marie sighed. "I see that your sessions with Stein haven't been much help..."

"Or maybe I'm just screwed up beyond repair..." Karma said sadly. She slid to the floor and hugged her knees to her chest.

Marie knelt down beside her. "Don't say such things. You know that's not true. I think you should come by to visit after school today. I'll make up some fresh coffee for you, would that help make you feel better?"

Karma's eyes glimmered with happiness as she looked up at Marie. "You'd do that... for me...?"

"Of course!" Marie laughed. The bell rang signaling the start of the lunch hour. "Now, go get some food, spend time with your friends, and I would apologize to Black Star if I were you."

The scythe stood up reluctantly, dusting off her white jeans. "Yeah, sure, I'll try. I might have to get Sayuri to bring some puppy-dog eyes into the equation, but I'll try to do it myself."

"That a girl!" Marie said, ruffling Karma's hair. "Now off you go! See you later!"

Karma watched as the teacher walked away. She played with a strand of her unruly, white hair, remembering how at one time her father used to ruffle her hair. She shook her head to rid any thoughts of him and made her way to the cafeteria.

…

"Next time Mom and Daddy go visit Grandma and Grandpa in Japan, you are taking care of Kuro-rii for me," Sayuri said matter-of-factly before taking a dramatic bite of her mashed potatoes.

"That mutt is not staying at my house," Karma replied, swirling her fork in her own mashed potatoes.

"He's not a mutt! He's a pure bred!" Sayuri insisted. "Besides, why wouldn't you like him at your house? You like him a lot."

"Ah, I remember that," Tatsuya said with a grin. "Karma, could you show everyone that cute giggle of yours?"

Karma's face flushed a deep red. Her laugh did not suit her in the least bit. She was short-tempered and violent, definitely not a girly giggler. Picking up her tray and muttering "Not hungry", the scythe put her tray away and headed off to her next class without waiting for her friends. She proceeded to avoid them for the rest of the day and drove off on her motorcycle after school without Sayuri, completely forgetting about the detention she'd earned earlier.

…

Karma was welcomed home by the scent of freshly baked cupcakes. Any normal teenager would have been ecstatic about there being fresh cupcakes to devour after the first day of school. However, Karma's eyebrows furrow in anger. Maka only had one reason to start baking dozens of cupcakes. Him.

"She'll never learn, will she...?" Karma thought out loud.

"Karma? Is that you, sweetie?" Maka called from the kitchen. The woman appeared with a frosting bag in her hands. "I'm baking! Would you like to help? How was your first day, anyway?"

"Uh... I think I'll pass. And wouldn't you know it, Black Star gave me detention," Karma replied.

"What? Detention on your first day?" Maka said, shocked. "Karma, what did you do?"

"Nothing worth mentioning. Hey, I gotta go over to Stein's. There's a cup of black coffee with my name on it over there so I better get it before someone steals it."

"You are not going anywhere, young lady!" her mother said. "Karma, why don't you talk to me anymore? Why run to Stein all the time? You can talk to me! I am your mother after all!"

"Sorry, but Marie really wanted me to come over and Stein and I are due for a session anyway," Karma insisted, heading for the door. "I'll probably be home late, but don't worry."

"Karma Marie Evans, get back here this instant!" Maka called after her. Karma left with a slam of the door. Maka's eyes lowered to the floor. "What am I going to do with her...?" she thought out loud. She returned to the half-frosted cupcake she'd been working on in the kitchen. "Happy B" was written on the small treat. "Please let this be the year..." Tears threatened to spill over as she heard the front door open again.

"Mom, I'm home! You won't believe what Karma did in class today!" Michael shouted as he removed his shoes at the door. "Hey, is it really today?"

Maka wiped the tears from her eyes and walked out to greet her son. "Yup! Want to help me decorate some cupcakes?"

"Sure!" Michael exclaimed, heading for the kitchen. He threw a glance over his shoulder at his mother. He never quite understood why, but his mother always seemed to be falling into and out of some sort of trance on this day every year. Almost as if her thoughts were far away with someone else.


	3. Father

"- and then there was the other reoccurring dream where I'm like Alice from that book with the rabbit and the cat that smiles a lot. 'Alice in...' What was it called again? Whatever, doesn't matter. So, Sayuri was the white rabbit and she was married to the March Hare who was Michael. He was having tea with Grandpa, the Mad Hatter. They told me the prince was looking for me but then I heard Mama singing and went to see if it was really her. Turns out she was on trial for falling in love with the prince, and when I finally saw the prince, he was the white monster from that other dream that attacks me," Karma finished her story. She lay on a cold operating table, irritated by her reoccurring dreams and the persistent itchiness of her scar. She looked to her counselor who had remained motionless the whole time. "Are you even listening? It's hard to tell when that damn light is glaring off of your glasses."

"Just because I do not react does not mean that I am not listening," Stein replied.

The scythe sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Mama is starting to make a bunch of cupcakes. You know what that means, right?" She looked at Stein once more. Not waiting for an answer, she continued, "It means, it's his birthday. Every year, she makes a ton of cupcakes, hoping that he'll come home for all of us to eat them together. But every year, she ends up just eating them all by herself. Blames it on menstrual cravings or some other crap. If Michael hasn't already started to help her make some, he'll probably be over there in a bit..." She paused, looking at the scientist to give some sort of reaction. Again, he gave her none.

"Of course, she asks me to join them in the kitchen every year. I refuse. Now she's mad at me... And I... don't want her to cry anymore... Not because of him and not... because of me, either..." Karma sat up and swung her legs over the side of the table. Sighing, she punched Stein in the arm. "Don't you dare tell anyone I said that, either."

Stein rubbed his arm, sore from the unforeseen blow courtesy of Karma. "I don't think you know your own strength," he said with a grin. "Everyone has their own way of coping, Karma." Stein continued, tightening the screw in his skull. "Your mother makes her cupcakes so that in the improbable chance that Soul comes back, he will know that she forgives his mistakes. Your method of coping is fear. Since you were a child, you have recreated the image of your father to be a monster because the last thing you remember about is him is that he hurt you. In the same way that your mother remembers loving Soul and prepares for his return with cupcakes, you remember hating Soul and push yourself to become stronger so that you will be ready to protect your family and yourself in the event of his return. If you truly wish to be ready for that day, you cannot just cope with your feelings towards Soul, you must conquer your underlying fear of him."

"I'm not afraid of him!" she shrieked. "He should be afraid of me! Some day, I promise you, I will get strong enough where I can hurt him as much as he hurt Mama, as much as he hurt me! He should be afraid of even thinking of stepping into Death City!" She clenched her fists to the point her knuckles turned white. "I'm not scared... I'M NOT SCARED OF HIM, YOU HEAR ME?"

Jumping off the table, Karma stormed off in the direction of the utensil drawer. "You'd better have a sharp scalpel and a decent specimen to slice into..." she said to the scientist, throwing a glare over her shoulder. How dare he accuse her of being afraid of that man?

She pushed past various dissection tools in order to find the sharpest scalpel in the drawer. Smiling widely, the weapon held up the tool so the operating light caught it just right. She turned it slightly so the reflective metal caught Stein's form in the small blade. "That man... isn't my father, understood? He's just the one who donated another X chromosome to me, that's it, nothing more. Never, I repeat, NEVER make the mistake of calling him my father again," she said coldly. "Now, where are all your dissection subjects...?"

Finding her unlucky patient, a large green frog, Karma pinned it to a dissection tray, a frightening grin spreading across her face. "What places would cause the most damage on, say, a human male?" she asked no one in particular. "It should be slow and painful, like all those lonely years Mama endured..." She positioned the sharp blade above the right thigh of the frog, imagining her scythe above Soul Evans. But something stopped her from piercing the animal's skin with the tool.

"What the hell...? Come on, Karma, you can do it. It's just a frog..." she whispered to herself, the scalpel frozen above the live animal. Her scar burned uncomfortably.

Stein remained sitting in is lab chair. He chose to not show his reaction to Karma's outburst for he feared getting scalpel in his neck. "Is something wrong, Karma?" Stein said. "You were so determined to take your anger out on a defenseless creature, so confident in your lack of fear. If you aren't afraid Soul, why can't you finish him off? Why do you call your dreams of the white monster 'nightmares' if you aren't afraid of him? Let's face it. You are not ready to face him yet."

A deep red painted Karma's face. She was furious. With Soul, the frog staring at her, her inability to move her hand, and Stein for maybe being right. Maybe she wasn't ready to face him. Maybe she'd never be ready to face him. Tears stung her eyes. What was the matter with her? She was stronger than that! Crying wasn't a cool thing to do. Big girls don't cry, right? When had been the last time she'd cried...?

A trip down memory lane brought her to the piano. A gorgeous grand piano her mother had given her father for Christmas before Karma was born. Her father had just placed her on the bench, agreeing to teach her to play the beautiful instrument. His fingers lay on top of hers, showing her how to play a C major scale. She tried it on her own, filled with wonder at how she could play notes that sounded lovely together. Her father would be so proud of her, she knew it. But then...

Clasping the scalpel with both hands, the scythe brought the tool down on the center of the animal. A spot of blood splattered on her cheek, soon to be washed away as tears fell from her eyes. Again, she stabbed the frog, trying to contain her sobs. She wouldn't cry in front of Stein. She wouldn't cry in front of anyone. If no one saw it, it never happened. She'd never cry again. "I'm not afraid!" she yelled, punctuating her sentence with another stab. "I'm not! I'm not! I'm not!" Again and again, she stabbed the poor creature, screaming out every time metal met flesh.

Through watery eyes, Karma stared at the mangled remains of the frog. When the time came to face her father, could she really do that to him? She had said that she wanted him to hurt by her own hands, even if that meant killing him, but... Sinking to her knees, Karma let the scalpel fall out of her hands. "I... I can't..." she whimpered. "Mama... Why...? Why can't I...?" Finally she broke down, sobbing into her bloodstained hands. "Mama, why? Why did Papa hurt me?" she screamed, regressing into a childlike state.

Stein had waited long enough. He walked over to the distraught Karma's side. He gave her a calming embrace with his arm, taking mental notes while doing so: 'Reluctant to show emotion, traumatic hemophilia, reversion to childlike behavior...'

"There, there," Stein said rubbing her back, "You can deny that Soul is your father if you want. It is just childish to deny your fear of him. The fact that you've admitted it only shows that you are growing up. You are the only one who can change you're feelings towards Soul. Whether you want to forgive him or murder him is your decision. I'm sure you will see which is best for you in time."

Karma was not a "huggy" person. If she ever gave hugs, which was a rare occasion, they were the manly kind. The ones where one gives a high-five, clasps hands, and gives a manly pat on the back with the other hand. The girl didn't like receiving warm embraces, either. She wasn't really that sentimental. But when Stein wrapped his arm around her, she gave in to the softer side of her. Grabbing the lapels of the scientist's lab coat, Karma buried her face into his chest. "Why...?" she continued to sob. "Just why...?"

"He loved you, you know," a child's voice said behind her. "He loved you more than you'll ever know..." Karma quickly turned to look behind her, still clutching Stein's coat in her hands. No one besides herself and Stein were in the room. "What was...?" she whispered to herself, returning to normal. She turned back to the scientist. "Did you...? Oh, nevermind..."

Realizing that she was still clinging to her counselor, Karma scrambled backwards, falling to the floor. "S-sorry about that! I just... you know, with the warmth and the squishiness and the touchy-feely..." she attempted to explain the emotional moment she'd just experienced. Composing herself, the scythe stood up, dusted herself off, and extended a hand to the man. "I'm very sorry you had to see me in such a weak state. Thank you for the counseling session. See you in school," she said with a stern look on her face before turning on her heels and leaving the lab.

Stein smirked from the unexpected emotion in the air. "Goodbye. If you need help before our next session, you know where to find me," he called after her. Stein was relieved to see that his work was finally paying off. He could not bare the thought of seeing Karma becoming more like him, an emotionless zombie who held all of his feelings inside. He had hoped that, through regular counseling sessions, he would be able to break through her stern demeanor and help Karma enjoy her life more. This touchy moment had been just what Stein needed to build his confidence that all of his hard work would pay off in the end.


	4. Exploit

"I'm home," Karma called out weakly as she entered her home. The clock on the wall said she'd missed dinner but hadn't gotten home as late as she had anticipated. Her mother would still be pissed at her though. She walked into the living room to await her mother's wrath when she noticed Sayuri standing in the room instead of Maka. The meister wore a short, sparkly blue dress with only one shoulder strap so the star tattoos on her shoulders could be shown off. Very rarely were the tattoos ever covered as they were the girl's pride and joy. Her cobalt blue hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail. "So uh... what's the occasion?" Karma asked.

"Your punishment for skipping out of detention," Sayuri answered happily. "We're going out with the boys tonight!"

"What boys...?" Karma asked irritably.

"Michael and Tatsuya, of course! Who else?"

The scythe fought back the urge to snap "The horde of boys that have practically made a fanclub for you." Sayuri was well liked among the male population at Shibusen. Everyone and their great-aunt knew that. With the exception of Sayuri herself. Many would agree that she was a flirt, but the meister saw it all as good fun like when she was with any of her friends. She never felt like she treated anyone any different from Karma, Michael, and Tatsuya and therefore wasn't aware that she was a flirt.

"Anyway, let's get you into your dress!" Sayuri interrupted Karma's thoughts. The meister held up a short dress with a black bodice and pink tulle skirt.

"Seriously? There's no way I'm wearing that girly thing," Karma said. "It looks like you took it straight from a Barbie doll."

"No choice~!" Sayuri said. "This is your punishment!"

"You've gotta be freaking kidding me! I'll do anything to get out of wearing that thing!"

"Deal!" the meister exclaimed happily.

Karma suddenly realized what she had just gotten herself into. Sayuri Star was not only an excellent meister and assassin, she also had a gift. She could never lose a bet. Ever. They were her favorite things in the world, probably because she could manipulate people into doing what she wanted while letting them think they still had a chance. So naturally the only way out of the dress was to humor Sayuri with a bet. "You're evil... pure, uncensored evil..." the scythe murmured. "So what's this bet going to be...?"

"Well, you still have to come out and have fun with us tonight, win or lose," Sayuri stated. "You need to get out and have fun once in a while, and the four of us haven't had much time together. Now, if you win, you get to decide what you get to wear, I have no say in the matter and have to put up with it no matter how awful it may be." An evil grin spread across the young woman's face. "But... if I win... you have to wear... THIS!" She pulled a tiny tube of neon pink fabric out from behind her back.

"What the hell is that?"

"A dress!"

"That will barely cover me at all!"

"Then you'd better win, huh?" Sayuri giggled.

"Can I take it back? I want to wear the frou-frou dress instead."

"Nope, too late!"

Karma sighed in defeat. "Fine... What's the bet...?"

"I bet that you can't ask Tatsuya out on a date~!"

No way in Hell Karma could win the bet. Why should she even try? She might has well give up then and there. But as she looked at the neon pink in Sayuri's hand, a flame of determination ignited within her. She had to do it. She might very well spontaneously combust if she had to wear the tiny clothing Sayuri called a dress. The front door opened and two male voices could be heard as Michael and Tatsuya walked into the house.

"Guess who's here~!" Sayuri sang, giggling at Karma in an almost mocking manner.

The scythe watched in horror as her meister went to greet the boys. She had to compose herself and win the bet. She was cool, nothing was bothering her. How difficult could it be to ask a boy out? So what if he was, in her mind, the most attractive guy in school? Who cared if he was her little brother's weapon? It was all inconsequential. Nothing was going to get in her way. She was going to ask Tatsuya out even if it killed her.

Michael and Tatsuya walked into the living room, the meister trying to look his best for Sayuri and the weapon trying not to look too bored with the events for the evening.

"Well, I'm gonna do a quick touch-up of my makeup," Sayuri announced. "Karma, go get ready, kay?" The assassin gave a subtle wink to her partner before heading down the hall to the bathroom.

Michael took a seat on the couch and switched on the television. "This might take a while, Tatsuya," he said. "Girls take forever to get ready." Suddenly his view of the screen was blocked by his sister. She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him, a slight blush painting her cheeks. "Didn't you hear Sayuri? Go get ready."

"I need to talk to Tatsuya..." Karma managed to get out.

"He's right there," Michael pointed to his weapon with the remote.

"I need to talk to Tatsuya alone," Karma hissed out the last word, promises of hellfire and brimstone in her voice.

"I-I'll go check on Sayuri then," her brother stammered as he backed out of the living room.

The scythe sighed at looked over at the broadsword who stared at her with an eyebrow raised in confusion. She willed the blush threatening to cover her whole face away.

"What is it, Scar Face?"

She cleared her throat and averted her eyes. She had always been "Scar Face" to him. He never called her "Karma", always "Scar Face". But it never bothered her. It was probably the best nickname anyone had come up with for her anyway. It was cool, kinda dangerous sounding. Not only that, but it was her special nickname only used by him… But right, of course, back to the bet. "I... wanted to ask you... if you had any plans tonight...?" Good so far. Karma could maybe actually do it.

"Um, yeah? With you, Michael, and Sayuri, right? Going to a club?"

She had not been informed about clubbing, but her embarrassment overpowered her anger at Sayuri. How could she have been so stupid? Of course he had plans! Her meister had just said they were going out with the boys that night! Her hands started to sweat badly. "Yeah, I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page, you know?" she laughed nervously.

"I suppose we are now if we weren't before," Tatsuya replied, scratching the back of his hair somewhat irritably. "You know how Michael is. As soon as Sayuri mentions something, he's all ears. And he's got a knack for getting into trouble, so wherever he goes I go, you know? Sometimes I wonder how he ever got this far without me always watching out for him. But I guess he's had you all his life and no one messes with Scar Face, right?"

Karma giggled but immediately covered her mouth, embarrassed by the sound. Starting to backpedal towards her room, she said nervously, "Yeah, I gotcha! Well, I'll catch ya later!" She ran straight to her room, shut the door behind her, and leaned into the wood, her eyes closed as she tried to catch her breath. "That was horrible..." she whispered, holding a hand over her fluttering heart. "I don't know how any girl can stand asking any guy out..." She glanced up and immediately regretted it.

Hovering over her, hair brush and tweezers in each hand almost like knives, stood Sayuri, a frightening glint in her eyes. "So I heard you failed..." she whispered in a creepy voice, her head tilting slightly. "You do know what that means, don't you, Karma…?" The meister giggled like a small girl from a horror film, causing the hairs on the back of Karma's neck to stand on end.

"No… please… Have mercy!" the scythe pleaded. Suddenly the idea of actually asking Tatsuya on a date properly wasn't so scary in comparison to Sayuri's methods of torture. She pushed herself off the floor and reached for the door handle, but her hand was soon caught in her meister's grip.

"Don't worry… It'll all be over in just a little bit," the assassin reassured her. "However, you might not recognize yourself afterwards…" Another giggle.

Karma braced herself. If she ever made it out alive after it was all said and done, she swore to never again take part in one of Sayuri's bets. But that was if she ever did survive...


	5. Boredom

Her ears were ringing and her eyes were sore. That had to have been the fifth guy to touch her butt on purpose that night. Karma's eye twitched in irritation. The music was too loud for her taste and was not really her cup of tea anyway. She had always preferred jazz to any dubstep or whatever else teenagers were into nowadays. Colorful lights were flashing every direction, too bright and not quite synced with the timing of the music blaring. And quite frankly, she could do without the grinding, although it did not take too much to chase away unwanted guys on the dance floor. Just a sinister, toothy grin flashed their way would do the trick. Blue Moon wasn't exactly her idea of a good time, but she had been forced into going, in a tiny, skanky, neon pink tube dress no less! All because her meister was bored, she was sure.

Somehow she'd managed to get herself separated from her so-called-friends in all the club's confusion. Standing on tiptoe, Karma searched for her meister first. Just as she suspected, the girl was surrounded by guys offering to buy her a drink despite the fact she was underage. The scythe shook her head in disappointment and happened to notice Michael outside the circle of men, dutifully watching out for the blue-haired girl and ready to jump in if one of the men decided to get a little grabby. Karma couldn't help but smile at the sight. He was Sayuri's guardian angel, even if she wasn't aware of it.

The scythe continued scanning the club for Tatsuya and finally found him in the middle of his own crowd. Trapped within the large group of females, he was able to make eye contact with Karma briefly before his line of sight was interrupted by the same girl from that morning. Jealousy sunk in, and Karma turned away, not noticing Tatsuya stretch a hand out to her.

Her friends were obviously too busy enjoying themselves to even care about the bet Karma had lost or the fact that they had dragged her to a night club against her will. Jealous and lonely, the scythe slunk out of the club.

The night air chilled her bare skin. Even in the Nevada heat, Karma always wore her black jacket. It was something she had just grown accustom to. So when the wind picked up slightly, she decided heading indoors would be best. But where to go? Somewhere her "friends" wouldn't find her. She needed to stay away from them for a while, or else someone might get hurt.

But as she struggled to make a decision, the sweet sound of a piano found its way to her ears. She closed her eyes and let the faint, jazzy melody whisk her away, forgetting about the cold breeze around her. Would her "friends" be able to find her in a jazz club? Most likely. But if the expert pianist accompanying the sweet, soulful voice of the soloist kept up the good work, Karma figured she would be calm by the time they figured out she was gone and went searching for her.

She followed the sound to a little jazz club called Cloud Nine. Only a few customers lingered, taking in the same music that drew Karma there. It must have been close to closing time. She found herself a booth a far corner of the club and waited for a waitress to make her way over.

"What'll it be, hun?" the young woman asked in a, most likely fake, cheery tone. No one was that chipper so late at night. Or maybe this Eileen (at least that's what her name-tag said) was one of those people. The kind of person who is ridiculously cheerful all the time even when any normal person would be as least a little grumpy.

Karma tried to hide her scowl. "Coffee. Black," the scythe answered, turning her attention to the stage. Eileen gave her a slightly weirded out look then went back to the kitchen to retrieve Karma's order.

Of course it was the weapon's luck that the massive piano blocked her view of the master playing it. Sure the woman swaying to the tempo had pipes, but Karma was more interested in the pianist. She remembered the baby grand sitting in it's own room at her mother's home. She had spent many an afternoon plinking out chords all by herself on the instrument, hoping that she, too, could create beautiful music. However, one can only do so much without proper training.

"I see you're pretty into the music, huh?" Eileen's voice startled the scythe back to the present. The waitress set down a coffee before her. "We're pretty lucky to have Mr. Evans here to play for us. Our last pianists were... okay... But Mr. Evans is a real musical genius! I've heard rumors that he might be related to the famous violinist, Wes Evans! Wouldn't that be crazy if it was true?"

The weapon only paid attention to every other word Eileen said. Wes Evans... she was very familiar with that name. Wouldn't it be crazy if the rumor was true...?

Finally, the song came to an end, and Karma watched as the soloist took a seat at a table near the stage. It must have been her last number for the night. Eileen raced over, praising the woman and asking if she could get her anything. The singer shook her head with a smile and motioned for the waitress to take a seat across from her. Eileen gladly sat down and began gushing about the playlist for the next night's performance.

Suddenly, Karma's attention was captured by the pianist stepping away from his instrument. For the first time, she was able to see the face of the musician. Something seemed oddly familiar about the man. Shock of white hair, dark red eyes... Wouldn't it be crazy if the rumor was true...?

Mr. Evans, too, took at seat near the stage, only at a different table than the women. He chuckled a bit at Eileen, her hands flailing as she spoke to the singer. He then turned his attention to the last few customers leaving and raised a hand in a sort of wave goodbye to them. Scanning the room to see if everyone was now gone, his eyes fell on Karma. The scythe felt drawn to him, despite the slight discomfort of her scar, and so left her coffee at her booth and walked toward the man.

"Mind if I take a seat?" she asked, pulling out a chair across from him. He nodded. She took her seat and stared at her hands in her lap for a bit. Finally mustering up the courage, she looked at him and said, "Your playing was beautiful."

"Thank you."

So he wasn't a chatterbox like Little Miss Sunshine the next table over. Somehow that relaxed Karma a bit. "I was... going for a walk when I heard the music. You play every night?"

"Not every," Mr. Evans replied. "Mondays, Wednesdays, then Fridays and Saturdays back-to-back. Gotta take a break every once in a while." Karma nodded in agreement. "You play?"

"Nah, just mess around a little. I could never be that good."

"Why not?"

"Just don't have the talent, I guess."

"It might be in your blood," the pianist said cryptically. Karma stared at him in confusion. What could this man possibly know about her...? "You have your mother's eyes," he continued. The scythe's eyes widened further. How did he know her mother? Mr. Evans stood up. "Well, better hit the hay. You too, young lady. I bet you have school tomorrow." He climbed up on stage to retrieve his sheet music. Taking a quick look at the cover, he immediately threw the pages to Karma who clambered to catch them. "For practice," he explained. With one final wave, Mr. Evans walked out of the little club and into the cool Nevada night.

Karma stood there, dumbfounded. The master had just passed on his music to her. She smiled a bit. Her instincts had been completely wrong. He wasn't who she had thought he was. How could someone so kind and talented be him? The scythe couldn't wait to get home to practice her new music. She completely forgot what time it was, but knowing probably wouldn't have stopped her anyway.

She raced home as Mr. Evans walked in the opposite direction. He stopped and turned to watch her run away, sadness and loneliness etched into his features. "You've done such a good job, Maka, raising our daughter..." He murmured. "She looks so much like you... Wish I'd been there to see her grow up... Michael, too..." He glanced up at the grinning moon. "Maybe I should finally come out of hiding..." he thought out loud to himself. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he continued on his way to his apartment, a lone figured guided by the light of the moon.


	6. The Art of Conversation

She nuzzled her head deeper into her crossed arms, trying to block out the voice of her teacher. Karma had stayed up all night working on the pieces Mr. Evans had given her the night before. She had been so excited to learn the music, sleep evaded her. She could feel someone attempting to yank her arm out from under her head. Probably Sayuri. Sleepily, the scythe picked her head up and looked over to her meister who smiled at her and jerked a thumb towards her father, as if to say "pay attention, no more detention". With a yawn, Karma nodded her head. Her mother would nag her incessantly if she got another detention.

But her thoughts were far from the lesson. They were back at Cloud Nine, with the man who looked so familiar. Although she knew he could not have been him, she was reminded of him. She thought of her brother next. Leaning forward slightly and looking past Sayuri, she saw Michael quickly jotting down every word Black Star spoke. She sighed and leaned back into her seat. "Guess it's unavoidable..." she whispered.

The scythe flipped open her notebook and scribbled a half-legible note on the page. Ripping the page out of the notebook, she nudged Sayuri. "Pass this to Michael," she ordered quietly then returned to trying to pay attention to the lesson without another word.

Sayuri gave her an inquisitive look before handing the note over to the younger Evans who blushed furiously. Fantasies filled his head of the note being a love letter from her dearest. Or even a note asking to meet outside after class where they would confess their love for each other and - "Shit!" Michael exclaimed after seeing Karma's signature.

Black Star turned away from the chalkboard mid-word. "Something you wanna share with the class?" he asked. "Not really like you to disrupt class, Michael."

The boy blushed an even darker shade of red. "Uh... no, nothing..."

Karma placed a hand over her mouth to hide the small smile forming on her mouth. But the smile disappeared not long after. It was going to be an emotionally exhausting day...

…

A small girl giggled as she ran down the dark hallways. She threw a glance over her shoulder, searching for her pursuer. Turning her head to look ahead of her, she saw a flash of orange and black before being tackled to the ground. The little girl laughed even louder as a tiger kept her pinned to the ground and licked her face. "Yue, you found me! Guess I'm it!" she giggled.

"Naomi!" a voice called, concern in her voice. A crimson-haired woman ran towards the girl, out of breath. "You shouldn't play here in this part of the coven. Haven't I told you that before?"

"Kay. We'll go home right away, Evelyn," Naomi replied, picking herself off the floor. "C'mon! We gotta head home, Yue!" The girl and her tiger ran down the hallways and out of sight, leaving Evelyn standing there shaking her head.

"What am I going to do with that girl...?" the witch asked herself aloud.

"Why is she even here?"

Evelyn spun around to face the owner of the voice. A woman dressed in Native attire stepped into the light given off by a single torch on the wall. "For the same reason you are, Centehua. She is a member of Zoida, the tiger specifically."

"Oh, that is precious," Centehua chuckled. "She looks so weak and pathetic. It must have taken a lot of coaxing to get her to do something big enough to impress Mabaa."

Evelyn hung her head slightly. "It did... But she managed to join Zoida, and that's all that matters."

"Unbelievable..." Centehua muttered, shaking her head. "So, what's her story? Why is it so hard for her to show her powers to Mabaa?"

Evelyn turned toward the torch on the wall and sighed. "I don't know her whole story. Naomi hasn't told me much. She has no family. I think she was separated from them somehow. I met her in Japan on my travels. She was lost and crying, her tiger curled up next to her to comfort her. She said she'd killed a little boy. She had been so scared, she didn't know what to do. I think she is afraid to hurt anyone again..."

"Then why bring her to Zoida?"

"Protection." The witch stared intensely into the flames. "She is only a child, she needs someone to look after her. I took her in. She thinks of me as an older sister or a mother. When Mabaa wanted me to join Zoida, I couldn't just abandon Naomi."

"The world is a cruel place," Centehua stated. "You can't hold her hand all the time. If she is going to be of any use to Zoida, she needs to toughen up. I learned to be strong at an even younger age than her."

"Is that so? What is your story then, Dragon?" Evelyn asked, turning to face the woman.

Centehua smiled. "My father named me. 'The only one'. My mother bore stillborns all before me. She died giving birth to her only child. My father was a witch and a member of the upper class during Moctezuma's reign. We lived in Tenochtitlan at the time the Spaniards began their colonization. Moctezuma's court held a celebration of Toxcatl, a festival for one of our main gods." Anger etched into the witch's features. "But humans are greedy. We were wealthy, our clothing decorated in jade and gold. In order to take it all for themselves, the Spaniards decided to slaughter everyone in the temple. My father hid me in a closet and placed a powerful shielding spell on the door to protect me from the murderers...

"There was screaming. Men, women, children... it didn't matter... They all died because of human greed. Eventually the temple was silent. I went looking for my father. I remember being sick, the stench of blood was so bad. I never found my father, but I knew he was among the dead. I knew more Spaniards would arrive to steal all they could, so I fled. I lived in the jungle nearby for a while. My familiar was all the company I had. I became stronger and thought I could go back and see what became of my home. But when I came back... other tribes had invaded. They stole what the Spaniards had left behind as a few of them set fire to the temple. That day, I swore an oath of vengeance...

"I wasn't strong enough to save my people or take back my home. Someday... I will come back... I will take back my home and avenge my father's death. I figured that by joining Zoida I could help my people fight any fight necessary to destroy the human race."

"But weren't there humans in your city?" Evelyn inquired.

"Yes. And that is what makes humans even worse." Centehua clenched her fists tightly. "They murder their own for personal gain. Anything to get ahead of each other. It would take a lot for me to kill one of our own, and that is what makes us different from humans. They are despicable... They deserve to die..."

Evelyn thought back to Mabaa and the organization Zoida. "You do know that Mabaa set up Zoida to fight for witches' rights, correct?"

"You think humans will give us a right to life? Humans can not accept the differences in their own kind, why should they accept us and give us rights? They already have rights set up to protect their own, but does that stop the killing? Anyone who believes in such a thing as 'witches' rights' is silly and naïve."

Centehua's words hit Evelyn hard. Had she been naïve to believe the witches could earn rights? Not all witches were as evil as Shibusen would lead its students to believe. The Sway of Magic was shifting, giving rise to witches with powers that healed rather than destroyed. Could Shibusen see that and stop the killing...?

"I think the Snake had the right idea," the dragon witch stated.

Anger welled up inside Evelyn. "You agree with the Snake? The same who sided with that werewolf who stole Lady Mabaa's eye?"

"Start an all-out war with the humans. It is what Shibusen has been practically asking for all these years."

"If we start on a killing rampage of the humans, they will only have more reason to hunt us!"

"If we wipe them all out, there will be none left to hunt us!"

"There are more of them than us!"

"You are all cowards!" Centehua shrieked, throwing a punch towards Evelyn who dodged gracefully. "The humans have no doubt hurt you and your family, too! You won't avenge them? What about your parents? Siblings? Other witches close to you?"

Evelyn turned toward the end of the hallway Naomi went down. "I'm working on it..." she stated before walking away.


	7. Take Your Best Shot

Karma swirled the last bit of coffee left in her cup. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she'd been sitting in the booth for nearly ten minutes. Her brother wasn't late. She was just early. Their relationship had been rather strained for the past few years. The reason? Simple: their father. Michael thought of the man as his hero, all thanks to their mother's stories. He was the boy's idol. Karma on the other hand hated the man more than anything in the world. The difference in the siblings' opinion on their father was due to the fact that Michael had been too young to remember their father's departure. He didn't know about the physical and emotional pain both Karma and Maka had suffered. Maka had covered it all up with her stories and Karma had never been able to destroy everything her little brother had believed in...

But no more. She had to tell him the truth about their father. The weapon figured he was old enough to take the news. She just couldn't stand by and watch him believe such a lie for the rest of his life. But how could she possibly tell him? Karma had hoped that meeting at DeathBucks would help her tell him. Getting there early to figure out what to say had been a good idea as well, but she still had nothing.

The tinkling of a bell above the door dragged her out of her thoughts. Michael appeared in the shop's doorway. "Hey, bro!" she yelled out, motioning for him to take a seat across from her in the booth. Taking a deep breath, she hoped that what she had to say would go over at least a little smoothly.

Michael walked over calmly and took the seat opposite her, watching her carefully. It was very strange of her to ask him to meet her anywhere. They lived in the same house for crying out loud! What was so important or life altering that it couldn't be said in the comfort of their own living room where he could sit down with a book and listen to her at the same time?

"How are you?" he greeted. What else could he possibly say?

One word to describe the get together: awkward. Talking with each other had never been easy to either of them. He was the perfect son. She was the moody daughter.

"Not bad. Yourself?" she replied. She waited as a waitress came to the table to take Michael's order, a French Vanilla cappuccino. "So, uh... This isn't actually a 'let's catch up' kind of meeting, Michael. I've actually got something really important to tell you..." How exactly does one word a speech that shatters everything one's baby brother has only ever known? Karma sighed, running a hand through her messy hair. "Well, I guess there's no easy way to say this, huh? Here goes... This meeting's really about -"

"There you go, sir!" the waitress chirped, placing Michael's coffee on the table in front of him. Karma's eye twitched in irritation. It was like Sayuri had just entered the room, the way the waitress spoke.

As she left the two alone, Karma said, "Why is it that waitresses have horrible timing, huh? Every time you're in the middle of an important conversation, they just have to interrupt, you know?" The scythe stared at Michael for a moment then continued before he could respond, "So, what was I talking about again? Oh, right.

"What I wanted to talk about was..." She couldn't do it. No way, no how. They may not have been super close, but she just couldn't be the one to tell him that everything he knew was a lie. "You and Tatsuya had better be prepared for those missions when they come around! I mean, there are some clear across the world! Not exactly a picnic, and your big sis isn't gonna be there to rescue you, comprende?"

"You fail!" her inner self chastised. "You are so not cool!"

Michael leaned back in his seat, attempting to look cool. "You called me out here to tell me how to do my job? I thought this was actually something important, Karma." Even though Karma was older than him, Michael always thought he acted like the older and more responsible of the two. Sure, she could have been genuinely concerned for the well-being of her little brother, or she could be trying to press his buttons. "Don't worry, I'll try not to need you."

"Good, 'cause Sayuri and I can't come saving your sorry ass all the time, got it?" Karma continued. "We've got our own missions to complete. And speaking of Sayuri, how are things going between you two?" She put on her best attempt at a smile, but it only looked like she was baring her sharp teeth at the meister. Everything was not okay, but she had to make him believe that it was. It was her duty as the older sister. At least, that's what she told herself.

Michael spit his coffee back into his cup as Karma implied relations between him and Sayuri. Composing himself, he answered, "Friendly as ever! Why do you ask?"

Karma giggled a little in that cute way of hers that definitely did not fit her as she leaned over the table to ruffle her brother's hair affectionately. "Smooth, Casanova. Real smooth. Can you try not to make it so blatantly obvious you're head over heels for her?" Her thoughts drifted to their mother and what she'd done the other day. Her completely fake smile fell away to a sad expression. "Hey... did you help Mom bake cupcakes the other day...? You know... for his birthday...? She always says it isn't for him, but..." She hadn't helped at all. Seeing her mother upset would have made her angry. And being angry wouldn't help her mother feel better at all. "Or did you at least help her eat any of them? You know how she tries to eat them all. Happens every year..." She leaned back in her seat and stared up at the ceiling. What she wouldn't give to keep her father out of their lives without her mother being miserable for the rest of her life...

Michael sighed. Right. That sad little cupcake day. "Yeah, I helped bake a little. Mom already had quite a few made by the time I got home, but I helped make a few more. I ate a few of them. I think what Mom and I couldn't finish went over to the Star's house," Michael answered. "I can't believe he didn't show up again... Doesn't he know how much we miss him?"

Michael had been under the impression their father had been away on missions all these years. Being a Death Scythe came with a lot more responsibilities, most of them being placed in charge of certain areas of the world for extended periods of time. But certainly he should be allowed to visit his family? Their grandfather was a Death Scythe and was able to stay in Death City to take care of their mother, even if she'd never really wanted him around.

"Hey, isn't it ironic that Grandpa and Dad are both Death Scythes but neither really knew their children?"he thought out loud, wiping his mouth with the napkin the waitress had given him along with his coffee.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as Michael spoke. "At least Grandpa made an effort to try to get to know his daughter," she replied with venom in her voice. "He may not have gone about it the right way, but he at least tried, and that's got to count for something. At least Mom could call him Dad because he was always around and always trying to look after her! At least he never hurt her! At least -!"

She stopped herself. Hadn't she already made up her mind about not telling him quite yet? The scythe sighed, looking into her empty cup. "I need another coffee..." she whispered. She waved down the waitress who returned to the table with a refill for the scythe. "Thanks," she murmured before the waitress walked away. Might as well use manners in front of her brother.

"I don't understand why you hate him so much, Karma..." Michael said. "He's a hero! He and Mom defeated the Kishin! He became the youngest Death Scythe in history! You know, someday I'll be able to wield him just as easily as I do with Tatsuya... I'll be able to wield you when you're a Death Scythe someday, too, Sis."

Karma honestly couldn't picture Michael wielding a scythe. She figured a sword suited him better, and not just because he was partnered with Tatsuya. But her anger slowly rose as he continued talking about their father. "I will be a better Death Scythe than he ever was! That's a promise! And I'll get there sooner than he did, too!" Angrily, she took a swig of her coffee, forgetting that it was still very hot. She fought back the urge to scream every swear word she knew as she felt her mouth burning. Karma bit her lip to keep quiet, eventually making it bleed. Composing herself, the scythe wiped her hand across her mouth to remove the blood. "Ow... Hate to burst your bubble, but I don't think you could handle wielding me. Besides, I've only got one meister. Sayuri's the only meister I'll ever have," she said matter-of-factly. Licking her lip, she could just barely taste a hint of iron despite her burnt tongue. Suddenly, she spotted a tiny splotch of black on her hand where the blood from her lip had been. Doing a double-take, the color returned to its normal red hue. "Weird..." she muttered to herself.

"Well what if Sayuri isn't there to wield you? Then what?" he asked. But deep down, he knew it was pointless to argue. Karma was stubborn that way. He would never get her to even give him a chance to weild her... Unless... "I'll give you my allowance for a whole month if I can't wield you." Michael wagered. He was ready, it was simply just resonating souls with someone else. How hard could it be...? Michael looked at his sister with determination. "Please accept!" he chanted in his head.

Karma smirked, the overhead light glinting off of her sharp teeth. "Let me get this straight..." she whispered in a creepy manner. "I get to humiliate you and take your money? Heh heh, this outta be good. Just remember that this was your idea when you go crying to mom." The scythe stood and placed enough money on the table to cover her bill and a tip. Jerking her thumb in the direction of the door, she said, "Should prolly do this outside. Just in case a miracle happens and you can swing me around. Let's go, little bro." Walking out of Death Bucks, Karma tried to keep it together. "This is just too much," she giggled quietly. "Like taking candy from a baby!"


	8. Creativity

While odd occurrences were sort of the norm in Death City, people turning into weapons would still possibly cause a scene. Karma walked over to a nearby alleyway, listening to her brother's footsteps behind her. She turned dramatically, raising her arms mid-turn. "Well, let's get this party started! Too late to turn back now! We've got a deal, Michael!"

Had she made a bet with Sayuri, the scythe would have questioned her own sanity. After the pink dress incident, Karma had sworn off bets with the assassin. However, her brother was a different story. Typically, the odds were pretty even. But with the deal he'd proposed, Karma was certain she'd win. Her darling baby brother wouldn't be able to handle Karma and her soul, she was sure of it. She would be surprised if they could even begin a resonance of any rate. Holding out a hand to Michael, she asked, "Shall we?"

Michael smiled. He was certain he could win this bet. Well... so long as she did slam all of her wavelength into him. "No cheating, okay?" Michael emphasized. He held out his hand to her.

"Psh, I can win this bet without cheating," Karma scoffed. She took her brother's hand and initiated a Soul Resonance. Just how long could they keep up a low resonance rate? She closed her eyes and focused on her brother's soul wavelength. The melody was slow and beautiful, the kind of melody one listens to when deep in thought. She couldn't help but smile. This was why they wouldn't resonate well. Her melody was fast, disorderly. His was slow and thought-provoking. But nevertheless, she listened to Michael's wavelength silently, enjoying the soothing melody.

Michael was enjoying the resonance as well. It was all how he planned. Just as he theorized, she would resonate with him perfectly. The moment was joyous. He had beaten the best at her own game. This was something to tell their mother about. He hummed what he could hear of her melody softly as he twirled the scythe around like a baton. She was an elegant blade.

In the middle of the resonance, Karma opened her eyes. She saw a tiny version of herself run by. A memory? Young Sayuri and young Michael joined the scene, all three chasing each other as small children tend to do. But the giggling was silent. All around them was silent. The weapon smiled. What had happened to those days? The lazy afternoons they'd spent together? Suddenly, her younger self headed towards the edge of a nearby forest. Silently, her companions yelled at her to return. But the stubborn child refused and ventured further into the forest. Karma followed herself. Everything became much darker and following after her younger self became more difficult, as if she were running while underwater.

Finally, she caught up to young Karma who had stopped in the middle of the trees. Her eyes were wide, frightened by something. The scythe looked up to find a large white beast standing over them, piercing red eyes staring directly at them. The same beast as in her nightmares. Young Karma ran as fast as she could, but the beast lunged a huge paw at her face. Claws met flesh and a splotch of red hit the earth. Karma's scar burned like a hot poker had been placed on it. The beast turned to her next. A short, dark shadow stood behind it. But the only thing that worried Karma was the beast poised to strike her next.

The Soul Resonance dissolved. The scythe dropped to the ground, holding her cheek. "Mama! Mama, save me!" she screamed. Her scar continued to burn as she thrashed on the ground in pain.

Out in the real world, Michael tried keeping up with the resonance rate his sister was creating, but it was too much. The shock of her soul's wavelength suddenly spiking bounced him back as she lay on the ground, crying. Panicking, he ran to her side. "Are you alright?" he asked. She wouldn't answer her, instead she held her scar and cried out for her mother. Michael sat her up against the wall of the building. "Please be alright..."

The sensations of being moved were lost to her. All Karma could feel was the burning of her cheek. Her eyes were shut tight due to the enormous pain she endured. Why wasn't anyone coming to help her? Wasn't her mother going to come to her rescue? "Mama! Mama! Please save me! I'm begging you! MAMA!"

She opened her eyes hoping to find the woman before her. Instead, she was met by Michael's crimson eyes, the same as the beast's from her nightmares, from whatever vision she'd just seen. Scrambling away from her brother, Karma continued to scream. She curled up into a ball against the wall at the end of the alley, frightened eyes staring at her brother between arms shielding her face. A crowd of curious passer-bys had already begun to form, but the scythe didn't take notice of them. All that mattered was that the monster was there in front of her, ready to finish the job it had been unable to finish earlier.

A dark shadow loomed over her brother. It was the same silhouette as in her vision, only taller this time. The shadow chuckled, the sound echoing in the alleyway. The temperature of her scar suddenly spiked. Karma fainted, falling over onto the dirty ground. Why hadn't her mother come to save her...?

...

Karma stirred. The light above her was blinding. She tried to rub the sleepiness from her eyes as she heard Michael's voice call for their mother. Was she still in the alleyway? No, she was home in bed. What had happened to her...?

"Karma! Oh, sweetie, I'm so glad you're okay!" Maka exclaimed, throwing her arms around her daughter. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

"Mom, I'm fine, but you're crushing me," Karma weezed.

Maka let her go and stood at the foot of the bed. "I'm sorry... I was just so worried about you... I heard the doorbell and certainly didn't expect to see your brother carrying an unconscious you into the house. I was worried to begin with when you both didn't come home right after school..." The doorbell rang. The woman sighed. "I don't think I was expecting any guests. I'm not sure how much more excitement I can take today... Michael can you-?"

"I'll take care of her, Mom," Michael answered before his mother could finish. She nodded and went to answer the door. The boy turned his attention to Karma. "Okay, what the hell was that?"

"What are you talking about?" Karma sighed.

"Your little freak out session in the alley. What was that about?"

She couldn't possibly tell him the truth. She had to come up with some sort of creative answer. "I have no idea what you're talking about." All of her creativity must have escaped her. Pulling the covers up over her head, the scythe turned over on her side to avoid any more of her brother's questions.

"We were resonating just fine, then all of a sudden you started acting like a crazy person," Michael said. "You mean to tell me you don't remember any of that?"

"Nope, doesn't ring a bell."

"What about yelling 'save me'? You were calling for mom like you were a little kid being chased by a monster."

She had finally had enough. Throwing the sheets off of her violently, she shrieked, "Why don't you shut the fuck up and leave me the hell alone?!"

"It's you!" their mother shouted at the door.

Brother and sister shared a look then pushed each other to be the first to the door to see what Maka shouted about. What they found stopped Karma dead in her tracks.

Maka was crying, her arms around Mr. Evans, the pianist from Cloud Nine. "It's you! It's really you!" she sobbed into the nape of his neck. He stroked her hair gently.

"Dad...?" Michael whispered in disbelief. "Is that... really you...?"

Maka turned to face her children. "That's right, your father is home. Soul... you're home at last!" Once again, she pulled her husband into a tight embrace, Michael soon joining in on the hugging.

Soul looked at Karma. "I couldn't believe it was you. You must not have recognized me at Cloud Nine. You've grown so mu-"

"Shut up..." Karma interrupted with venom in her voice.

"But, Karma, aren't you glad to see me?" her father asked, shocked at her behavior.

"Get out."

"Karma, that is no way to speak to your father!" Maka chastised.

"He isn't my father!" the scythe shouted. "What kind of a father up and leaves his wife and children? He hurt you, Mama! Don't try to tell me he didn't! I remember it clearly... I saw a red mark on your face when you came back from talking with him before he left! He hit you! And what about me? He hurt me and ran away! Too afraid to own up to his mistakes!" Maka and Michael let go of Soul.

"Karma Marie, that is enough!" Maka said storming up to her daughter. "Apologize to your father at once!"

"You think I should apologize? What have I done that is so bad? I call him out on his mistakes, and I'm the one who has to apologize?" All went silent for a moment. "I'm out of here..." Karma muttered, pushing past her family members.


	9. Flashback

Michael stared at his father, angry and confused. "You mean... that's why you left...?"

"Michael, you don't know the whole story..." Soul started.

"I've never known the whole story! You," Michael pointed at his mother, "you lied to me all these years! Dad was never traveling the world, was he? He was never on missions as a Death Scythe, was he? He was hiding! Just like Karma said, not man enough to own up to and apologize for his mistakes!"

"I didn't mean to lie to you, Michael..." Maka said, starting to cry again. "I just didn't want you to think like Karma-"

"She was right to hate Dad!" the boy shouted. "You're no father of mine, either!" He ran out the door, pushing past Soul. He didn't know where she'd gone, but he was determined to find Karma and apologize for never understanding. She had been right all along.

Soul and Maka stood there, stunned. This was not supposed to happen. Soul had planned on a warm welcome, not an intense screaming match. "Shouldn't have even come back..." he said, slumping into a nearby armchair.

"Nonsense. This is your home," Maka insisted, pulling up a chair beside him and taking his hand.

"I didn't know she hated me so much..." Soul placed his free hand over his face. "Now both Karma and Michael hate me..."

"I knew I couldn't change Karma's mind... But I didn't want Michael growing up to hate his father because... I knew you'd come back eventually..."

"Actually... I've been back for a while..." he admitted, turning away from his wife.

She was shocked. "What do you mean?"

"I've been living in Death City for the past few years. I just... couldn't find the courage to face any of you..." He turned back to her and placed his free hand over hers. "But then I ran into Karma at Cloud Nine. Seeing her, seeing how much she's grown, it gave me the courage to come back. I wanted to be a family again..."

Maka took back her hand. "Why didn't you ever call? Or write? Even if you weren't ready to face the kids, why didn't you try to see me? Don't you know how worried I was? I had no clue where in the world you'd gone! I raised our kids by myself, trying to keep a smile on my face while I kept thinking of you and where you were and how you were and if you were sick or healthy or in trouble or had left us for good! And it never crossed your mind to contact me?"

"Maka, I'm sorry! I was afraid!"

She walked away from him angrily without another word.

Soul held his face in his hands, his words muffled. "I don't mean to fuck everything up... I just do..."

...

"You can't hide here forever, Karma," Sayuri said, shaking out an old sleeping bag onto her bedroom floor. "You have to go home sometime."

"It isn't home if he's there..." Karma replied, stealing a pillow from the stack on Sayuri's bed. She had gone over to the Star residence with a story that Sayuri had begged her for a sleepover and must have forgotten it was that evening. Tsubaki ate the story up and began making dinner for four.

"You have to face him sometime. You can't just keep running from him," the meister said matter-of-factly. "And you can't keep up this lie forever. You really think Mom is going to believe we're having sleepovers for the rest of our lives? You need to tell Mom what's going on!"

"What's going on?" Tsubaki asked as she entered the room with a tray of tea. "Is everything all right?"

Karma stared at her feet for a moment, trying to come up with the words.

"Uncle Soul is back," Sayuri said for her weapon. "Karma doesn't want to be home right now, that's why she's here..."

"You're kidding me!" Tsubaki nearly dropped the tray. "He's finally back and you would rather be here?"

"Prison sounds better than home right now," Karma said, throwing herself facedown on the bed.

Tsubaki set the tray on her daughter's nightstand and sat next to Karma. "I understand why you don't want to be around him right now, but you need to forgive him. You don't know the whole story."

"That's what he said, too. But I'm tired of all the lies. The truth is he hurt all of us and left us. He doesn't deserve forgiveness. He deserves to hurt as much as we did and more."

"Revenge won't solve anything, Karma. You know that." Tsubaki took hold of Karma's hand.

The girl flinched away from the woman. "I knew you'd say that! None of you understand! I'm outta here..." Once again, Karma ran away, not really sure of where she was going. She kept looking behind her, certain her meister would come running after her to try to convince her that revenge was wrong. But nothing and no one would change her mind. Revenge had been on her mind for far too long.

Her eyes still set behind her, on the look-out for Sayuri, she did not see someone walking in front of her and ran right into them. Both fell to the ground, Karma lying on the young man's back. "Hey, watch where you're-" Karma snarled before seeing his face. "Tatsuya...?"

"Hey, Scar Face," the broadsword greeted. "Mind getting off me?" The scythe hurriedly picked herself off and brushed herself off. "Thanks. What were you running from?"

"Sayuri..."

"Ah. Makeover?"

"No, we're just... not quite seeing eye-to-eye on a particular subject."

"I hear your dad's back," Tatsuya said nonchalantly.

"How did you know that?" Karma asked, trying not to let her anger show.

"Michael's at my house right now," he answered, "really upset about your dad being back. He is currently eating me out of house and home, so I figured I'd go pick up some groceries." He pointed to the groceries sprawled out on the ground thanks to their earlier collision. "Want to chill at my place for a while? Two's company, three's a party."

Karma tried to hide her blush. "Sure. Something to keep my mind off of him I spose." The two began picking up the groceries in silence for a while until Karma spoke again. "Why is Michael so upset? I thought he was his hero, that he'd be glad to have him home."

"Said he'd been lied to all this time," he replied. "That everything he knew about his dad was a lie. I get the feeling you know the truth?"

"Yeah..." she whispered, touching her scar.

"So it's this story, huh?" he asked. "The story of your scar? I'm in for a treat, the story behind Scar Face."

Karma sighed. "Long story short, my old man slapped my mom, sliced open my face, then ran out on us. I haven't seen him since I was four."

"Wow..." was all the young man could say as they walked toward his home. He walked quietly for a while, thinking about what had just been said. "At least you have each other, you and your brother... I'm a bit jealous..."

"What do you mean? You don't have a family?"

"Sorta... I was born in Japan. Don't really remember my folks. They died when I was little. But I had a little brother, Sosuke. We lived in an orphanage for a long time, made a makeshift family with a few others there. We'd play hide and seek in the nearby woods a lot. But one time... Sosuke was gone for a long time. The rest of us went looking for him. Eventually, I found... his soul... You know how weapons and meisters can sense who killed a person by the soul that's left behind, if there is one at all? It was a witch, no doubt about it. My only brother, gone... I swore that I would kill the witch who killed him. He was only a little boy..."

"Is that why you came to Shibusen?"

"Yeah. The orphanage somehow managed to scrape up enough money to send me to the US so I could become a weapon. They didn't know about the revenge I had planned, they just knew that life would be better for me if I went to Shibusen. It was 'what I was born to do', all my old teachers would say." They stopped in front of the student apartment complexes as Tatsuya fished in his pockets for his keys. "I'll find that witch... even if it's the last thing I do..."

As they came to Tatsuya's front door, Karma said, "I guess we have a lot in common..."

"You're out for revenge too, huh?"

Karma nodded.

"So I don't have to worry about you telling me that 'revenge isn't the right way'?"

"No."

"Good."


	10. Puzzling Words

"Why didn't you tell me about Dad?" Michael demanded as soon as he saw Karma enter the apartment.

"You lucked out and live here all by yourself? No shitty roommates? Guess no need since your shitty partner lives at home," she said to Tatsuya casually, ignoring her brother.

"I asked you a question! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would you have believed me?" Karma shouted back. The meister stared down at his feet. "That's what I thought. I wanted to tell you so many times. You pissed me off every single time you praised him! You were so stupid to believe Mom's stories! But... you were only a kid... You couldn't remember what happened... the way Mom looked when she came back after Stein patched me up... I just... can't forgive someone who would hurt Mama like that..."

"I... I'm sorry..." Michael whispered in defeat.

"You should be..."

Tatsuya placed a hand on her back gently. "C'mon, let's sit down," he insisted, guiding her to the couch. Reluctantly, the scythe took a seat next to Tatsuya. "Karma told me about your dad. I'm sure neither of you are too thrilled about the prospect of going home...?"

"Hell no," Karma answered immediately. "I'm not going back there until he's gone." She looked over to her brother. "Well? What about you? They lied to you. You gonna go back after that?"

Michael stared into his lap silently. "... no... I guess not... at least not yet..." he whispered, a bit shocked by his own words. "I'm not entirely sure if I can forgive them just yet..." He glared at Karma. "Not entirely sure if I can forgive you just yet either..."

"Not yet, huh? Not going back yet? As in you will eventually?" the scythe asked, once again ignoring her brother's words. "Even if he's there?"

"Well, yeah. I'm pissed for now, but I won't be forever." Michael got up and walked to the grocery bags left forgotten on the floor to grab a soda. "I'm not like you, Sis. No matter how pissed I am, I can't hold a grudge forever. Besides, they said something before I left..."

Karma tried to seem uninterested as Tatsuya leaned in for his meister's story. "If it's something he said, I'm not listening," the girl grumbled, looking away from her brother.

"They said I didn't know the whole story," Michael continued, now the one ignoring a sibling. "I might be willing to hear them out, you know? They are our parents. They only want what's best, right? There must be a reason Mom lied all this time and why Dad has been away all these years. Again, I'm pissed. They shouldn't have lied, but what if it was for good reason? What if you don't know the whole story, Sis?"

Karma slammed her hands on the coffee table and stood up suddenly, glaring at him. "I know enough to know anything they say will all be lies! That's all he's good at, lying! I refuse to listen to or believe in anything he says!"

Michael set aside his soda and slammed his hands on the table as well. "Will you ever quit being such a bitter bitch?! Just move on already! People screw up! You're no saint yourself! Mom's happy with him! She wants him back in our lives! If you want her to be happy, then let him back in! What is the point of holding onto this grudge?!"

"You don't remember! You don't understand! He deserves to hurt like Mama did, like I did!"

Tatsuya stood up and pushed the two away from each other. "Get it together, you two. Shouting at each other isn't going to solve anything."

"And neither will revenge for that matter!" Michael barked at his sister.

"If I have to stop being a bitter bitch then you have to stop being such a goody-two-shoes, cliché-spouting, textbook nerd!" she shouted back. "I knew you'd tell me something like that! But nothing you or anyone else says will change my mind! I WILL become a Death Scythe and I WILL defeat him!"

"You're crazy! What good will that do?! Tatsuya, talk some sense into her!"

Tatsuya remained quiet for a while, not sure whether or not he should tell his meister the reason he enrolled at Shibusen. "Let's just say... I can relate..."

"You're all crazy! Forget this, I'm going home," the meister stated, picking up his soda dramatically. "I'm going to apologize for being a horrible son by talking back to my parents and running away from them, I'm going to forgive my father for being away for so long, I'm going to hear the whole story and believe it, AND I'm not telling any of you crazy people, so don't even ask!" He stormed out of the apartment leaving the two speechless.

"What a dumb ass..." Karma sighed, falling into her seat on the couch. Tatsuya followed her lead. "Why won't he ever just listen to his big sister...?"

"He's tired of being in your shadow."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye.

He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "Well, you're the oldest, so important things happen to you first. You get that kind of attention first. You're a gifted weapon, and, in his eyes, being a weapon is far cooler than being a meister. You've got this "don't give a damn" attitude about you that he wishes he could have. He's spent a lot of time wishing he was you, now he wants to be him for once."

The scythe stared up at the ceiling. "Am I really that much of a bitch...?"

"Sometimes."

She closed her eyes. That stung. The one person she wished wouldn't think of her as a psycho bitch... "Sorry..." was all she could say.

"It's cool. I understand." He stood up and went to pick up the groceries that had been abandoned on the floor. "Damn, the ice cream melted... Hey, you staying here tonight?"

Karma's face instantly flushed a deep red. Stay in Tatsuya's apartment with him? And no one else? All alone? "S-Sure. I mean, if it's okay that I do," she stuttered. She mentally kicked herself for being so uncool. He was being friendly and offering her a place to stay, nothing more, and she was being a blundering idiot.

"Of course. What are friends for?" he shouted over his shoulder as he put away the groceries. "You can have my bed since it has sheets on it. The school supplies the apartment with furniture and the apartment was supposed to be for two, so I've got another bed. No worries." He came back from the kitchen with a bag of chips. "Hungry?"

Sheepishly, she nodded her head. He sat next to her and held out the bag to her. She timidly reached for a handful of chips, again mentally kicking herself for being so awkward. "I can sleep on the other bed, it's fine," she said with her mouth full of chips.

"Nonsense. You're my guest, you take the made bed. It's no problem." He gave her a warm, sincere smile before chomping down on another chip.

Her heart melted at the sight of his smile. What she wouldn't give to see that smile every morning... She shook her head violently. Feelings were almost too gooey and warm for her to handle. She tried to tell herself that she was too cold and scary for such touchy-feely thoughts. Coming back from her thoughts, she saw Tatsuya giving her an odd look, no doubt due to her shaking her head for no reason like a mad woman. "Fighting off drowsiness," she offered as an excuse.

"Go on to bed if you're tired. No need to stay up for my sake," he responded, jerking his head in the direction of his bedroom.

A fake yawn escaped her mouth in an attempt to keep up the tired act and get away from him. She did not need to make a bigger fool of herself. With an awkward wave goodnight, the scythe made her way down the hall to Tatsuya's room.

His room was rather plain. Only a few objects from his home in Japan sat on his desk and a wall scroll hung on the wall above his bed, an image of cherry blossoms falling from a tree painted on it. Gingerly, she took a seat on the bed. It called to her, saying "Shhhh, sleep". But she was not tired. It had all been an act. But the pillows looked so comfortable... She lay her head down gently on the pillows and took in Tatsuya's scent. One more thing she would give anything to have every morning... A blush painted her face, and she buried her head in the pillow, clutching it to her chest. She was just a silly girl like all the others. As much as she wished she was a bad ass, she was just a love-sick girl who giggled like a child and melted with so much as a look from her crush. She breathed in his scent once more and fell asleep to thoughts that maybe it was okay to not always be a bad ass.


	11. Ill

uck was not on the meister's side as he fished in his pockets, searching for his house key. Of course they locked the door, like any normal person. With all the commotion of the day, Michael had left his keys in the house. After the episode he and Karma had had, why would their parents ever think they would be returning late that same night? Out of options, Michael rang the doorbell. Not only had he been incredibly rude to his parents earlier, now he was waking them up late at night, coming home after running away like a child. He entertained the thought of apologizing to Karma and Tatsuya instead and staying there with them.

While he was deep in thought, Soul sleepily opened the door. "Michael?" He hadn't expected either of his children to come home that night, if at all. Sleep had evaded him no matter how much his body begged for it. "What are you doing here?"

Michael stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders, a sheepish grin on his face. "Thought I'd come home? If I'm welcome, that is..."

Soul patted his son's back. "You're always welcome here." The two walked into the living room, the scythe taking a seat on his makeshift bed on the couch. "Your mom's not exactly happy with me..." he explained. "Sit down, we've got a lot to catch up on."

Michael took a seat next to his father. "I'm... really sorry for earlier... I was way outta line..."

"Hey, if I was in your shoes, I woulda done the same. Why do you think I was so surprised to see you back?"

"Yeah, I guess..." The meister rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "So, you're back for good then...?"

Soul leaned his head against the back of the couch. "Well, if I'm even welcome. I've actually been in Death City for a while. Been too scared to face you guys after what I did... Your mom didn't take that too well. Kinda wished I could sleep next to her tonight though... It's been years..."

"Um, sorry, but the way the conversation is going is kinda uncomfortable," the meister admitted. "You haven't exactly been around, so you're still kinda like a stranger to me, and hey, that's my mom you're talking about."

His father laughed. "Yeah yeah, I gotcha. Sorry about that, kiddo." He ruffled his son's hair affectionately, a big toothy grin on his face.

Michael ran his hands through his hair, trying to fix the mess Soul had made. "Before I... had my little episode... you and Mom said something about me not knowing the whole story. What did you mean by that? I mean, I guess it makes sense that Karma wouldn't know everything, only being a kid and all when you left, but what has Mom been keeping from me all this time?"

Soul sighed. What should he tell Michael? The truth would only scare him. 'I was infected with Black Blood that made me crazy and may or may not be able to be passed down to my children' was obviously not the way to go. But the boy deserved to know the truth after being lied to all these years. Maybe he would just omit the part about the Black Blood... "Well... back when Maka and I were in school, we had a mission in Italy. And that's... where everything started to go wrong... See, we fought this kid, Crona, and -"

"Wait, Crona? Like Death's girlfriend, Crona?"

Soul blinked, confused. He really had been away for a long time. Even though he lived in Death City the last few years, he had not heard any news about his friends. "Lord Death is... dating that chick...?"

"Well, not Lord Death, but his son," Michael corrected.

That explained a few things. It made sense to the scythe. Death the Kid wasn't going to be a kid forever and would eventually take Lord Death's place. And it kinda made sense that a Grim Reaper, blessed with long longevity, have a relationship with someone else with long longevity, even if she was the daughter of a witch... "Okay then, yeah, we had to fight Death's girlfriend back when she was evil and trying to make her weapon into a Kishin. Nothing we did was working, and eventually your mom was rooted to the spot scared out of her mind. Woulda been killed if I hadn't stepped in and got sliced open like a fish. Sure, I saved Maka, but I... became infected... And it changed a lot of things... It affected the way we fought, but we learned how to work around it, even with it.

"So time went on. I guess you know the whole story about the Kishin, Ashura, so I won't go into that. Maka and I, well, we kinda fell for each other. And it seemed like my disease went away, wouldn't cause any more problems. So eventually we got married, the whole birds and bees stuff, you and your sister came along, blah blah blah you don't care about that part. So Karma was about five and you were about three, right? I found out that the disease came back... I didn't want to worry anyone, so I tried everything I could to either deal with it or get rid of it. Nothing worked... It... kinda made me crazy... I didn't mean to slap your mother, that was entirely an accident. She startled me, I reacted.

"But Karma... what I did to her was all the disease's fault... I was so afraid that I hurt all of you again... so I ran. Crappy plan, I know... Your mom ran after me and tried to convince me to come back. Said we could fight it together... I just couldn't put you all at risk..." He looked up at his son who looked back with watery eyes. "Hey now, don't cry on me. Cool guys don't cry," he tried to lighten the mood.

Michael wiped his eyes with the back of his arm. "I just don't get it. Why didn't Mom tell me? What was so horrible about that that she couldn't tell me?"

"Dunno. Probably like she said, so that you wouldn't think of me like Karma does... Not believe the story and think I just ran out on you guys." Soul ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I came back because I think I have the disease under control now. I wanted to be a family again. I missed you guys so much. I'm an idiot for leaving in the first place... Maybe... maybe Karma has a right to hate me..."

"All of this happened because of a disease that you got protecting Mom. If you hadn't protected her that day, then she would probably have died and what family would you have then?" Michael smiled at his father. "Mom always told great stories about you. You were always my hero when I grew up. And even now you're my hero. Giving up your family to protect them? I'm not sure I could do that..."

Soul pulled his son into a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry I left you guys..." he whispered. "I'll be a better father from now on, promise." He pulled back and smiled at Michael.

He smiled back for a brief moment, but his smiled fell away into a serious look. "But wait... what kind of disease was it? How could you get a disease that makes you go crazy under control all on your own?"

The scythe cringed. Just like his mother, the boy was too smart for his own good. "Not sure. Not much research has been done on it. At this point, it's kinda just been mind over matter..." He wasn't lying, just omitting parts of the truth. He was only doing it to protect his son, he had to keep telling himself that. "It's late, Michael. You better get some sleep. Don't wake your mom, just surprise her when she wakes up tomorrow, got me?"

Michael nodded vigorously and ran partly up the stairs before stopping. He watched his father lean back in his seat with a sigh. It was strange to see him there, acting as if it had always been his home, that he'd never really left. The boy quietly crept up the remaining stairs and tiptoed past his mother's room. He peeked inside for a moment to see her clutching her pillow close to her chest. She mumbled the name "Soul" in her sleep. He was glad he came back. There was still hope for them yet. They could be a family. He just had to get Karma to listen. He had gone through many difficult ordeals in his life, but none held a candle to the idea of trying to get stubborn old Karma to listen to a word their father would say. But that could wait for the next day. He made his way to his room and almost instantly fell asleep once he hit his bed.


	12. Skeleton

A faint jazzy piece filled her ears, gradually growing louder. It was not familiar to her. It was pitch black. Suddenly, faint lights glowed all around her. Candles, she came to realize. Karma sat in a high-backed armchair, her fingers drummed along with the beat of the music. A black and red checkerboard pattern appeared on the floor below her. She had never been in this room before...

An eerily familiar figure walked out from behind deep red curtains from across the room. A short, red-skinned man with horns, wearing a double-breasted coat, he danced a little jig out of time with the music. "Welcome, welcome!" he said. "It's nice to finally meet you, Karma..."

The scythe was suspicious of the odd man. "Where are we? How did I get here?"

He tapped his head. "We're up here. In your mind," he replied with a creepy grin.

"Okay? Then how do I leave?"

"Silly girl. That would mean losing yourself, wouldn't it?"

Karma frowned. "If I am here, that means I entered this place. If I entered, means there's an entrance. Means I can leave from there..."

"You are such a gifted weapon," the man continued, ignoring the scythe's words. "But you can become stronger..." A door appeared behind him. "Follow me. I'll show you to the way... to strength... to courage... to revenge..." He made his way to the door, motioning for her to follow him.

"I don't trust you..." Karma stated.

"But I am a part of you. Here, from inside your mind."

"And what a fucked up place it is," she replied. "You're probably not real, just the product of all the craziness in the last twenty-four hours."

"No, my dear. I hate to disagree with you, but I am quite real. And you'll want my help someday. So I'll be here if you need me..." He bowed and backed out through the open door. Immediately, darkness began engulfing the room.

The scythe reached out to the man although he was gone. "Wait, come back! I don't want to be alone!" she called out to him. He did not return. She was frightened, scared of the overwhelming darkness. As she cowered, frozen by her claustrophobia, she heard a small girl crying. She wasn't alone! Quickly,t he weapon followed the sound of the girl's sobbing. "I'm here! Don't worry! I'm coming!" she shouted to the girl. She saw an overhead light up ahead and ruched towards it. Once she stepped into the light though, the crying stopped. All was silent.

Another overhead light appeared a little ways away from her. Nothing was there, no sounds. Karma crept towards it cautiously. As she got closer, she started to see a figure and hear noises. The sounds of cracking and snapping... The figure came into focus, a huge, furry, white beast. She looked at its feet. Most of a small, human skeleton lay there, all its flesh stripped from it. She was going to be sick. The beast above her grunted at her, having noticed her presence. The remaining parts of the skeleton lay in the beast's claws, flesh hanging from the bones and the beast's teeth. Karma was too afraid to even wretch. It was the same monster from her dreams. It threw the skeleton aside and grabbed her arms roughly, pulled her up to its face, opened its mouth, and -

Karma screamed, trying to claw at the hands grabbing her arms. "Let go! Let go of me!"

"Karma! Karma, it's me! Just Sayuri!"

The scythe stopped her struggling and looked up to find the worried, blue eyes of her meister staring back at her. "Sayuri...?"

"Are you okay...?"

Karma sat up in the bed slowly. "Just a bad dream is all..." she whispered. She was confused for a moment, forgetting she had stayed at Tatsuya's apartment. "How'd you find me?"

"Stopped by your place and Michael told me you were probably still here. Don't worry, he hasn't told your parents." The meister got closer to her weapon's face, a silly grin on her face. "So, how was your evening with Tatsuya?"

The scythe pushed her away. "Nothing happened. Nothing ever will..."

"Oh, come on now, don't be such a Debbie Downer!" the meister sang. "One of these days he'll realize how awesome you are and fall for you!"

Karma jumped up and covered her friend's mouth. "Shh! What if he heard you?!"

Prying Karma's fingers from her mouth, Sayuri said. "Relax, he's not here. Michael gave me his key to get in before he went to school."

The scythe leaped out of bed. "School! Damn, if I'm late, Black Star will give me detention and I'll probably have to see Death!"

"Actually, we're excused today!"

Karma stared at her, confused.

"How 'bout a mission?"

The scythe grinned. "Haven't gone on a mission in a long time..."

"Would be kinda nice to do that again, huh?"

"Why are we still standing here?"

"There's the Karma I know!"

…

"Where the hell are we?" Karma muttered staring at a pile of rubble. The weapon-meister pair stood in the middle of a desert in front of what appeared to be ruins of an old building.

"Daddy said it was once a dangerous research center before it was destroyed. Death said it was clear for missions since their might be some research still hidden or even souls left from when it was destroyed," Sayuri explained. "Might be an easy mission if we can just find some souls lying around!"

"There 'sposed to be an entrance here somewhere?" the scythe asked, pushing aside some rocks.

"Sid-sensei said he had been in the building when it originally blew up. Obviously he got out somewhere, so that's where we get back in!" She joined her partner in sifting through the rubble until they came upon an opening. "After you!" Sayuri offered nervously, making Karma roll her eyes before crawling into the hole.

As most would, the scythe began to think about how dangerous the mission really was. The passage could cave in, leaving them stranded in the ruins. Or something too strong for them could have crawled in first without Death's knowledge. She shook her head, ridding herself of such thoughts. Thoughts like those instantly made it more dangerous because they would psych her out.

Finally, they made it to a large room and were able to stretch. Karma struck a match to light their way. The remains of a torch hung on a wall nearby, and Sayuri grabbed it to hold out to the scythe to light it. "Well, back to work! Onward and forward!" she said with a smile.

"I think it's 'sposed to be 'onward and upward'."

"But we can't go upward yet! So forward it is!"

Karma sighed and followed her meister in the dark. She could feel it swallowing her up, just as it had in her dream. But Sayuri was there with her. She would be fine.

Rats scurried around them, frightening Sayuri every time one ran across her boots. They were only dumb animals, the pair knew that. But they both could not shake the feeling they were watching them intently, trying to figure out their reason for being there.

Karma stared at a group of rats in the corner, gnawing on a small pile of bones, and once again was drawn back to her dream. While lost in thought, she tripped over something, falling flat on her face. Blindly, she felt around for what she had tripped over until Sayuri brought the torch over.

"What are you doing on the floor?" the meister asked, crouching down next to her.

The scythe spotted the item and grabbed it before answering, "Tripped over this... book?" Both stared at the object in her hand, a book just as she had said.

"What does it say...?"

Karma turned over the book in her hand. "Cover doesn't say anything. Should I open it...?"

Sayuri nodded.

Carefully, the scythe opened the book. A sketch of a young woman stood out to her. "'The Rooster'?" she read aloud from the top of the page. Sayuri read over her shoulder. "Evelyn Wycliff, huh? Salem, Massachusetts. Looks like she lived during the witch hunts."

"Nuri? Her bird is a phoenix? But phoenixes don't exist!"

"The next page is blank," Karma observed. "It just says 'The Dog'."

The meister ripped the book from her hand and handed her the torch. "Let's go to the beginning and find out what this is all about." She flipped to the front and read "'Zoida'? It looks like a roster. You know, like info on members of a club. But it looks like it's not full. Like they're missing some members."

A rat jumped up and bit Sayuri's hand, causing her to drop the book. A group of rats pushed the book intot he shadows as the meister dropped to the floor, holding her hand in pain. "What was that?" she cried.

"We need to find that book! I dunno what this 'Zoida' group is, but Shibusen might want to know about it!" Karma shouted, waving the torch around in search of the rats. The light caught a tall figure in the corner, and Karma swung the lgiht back around to see it clearly. A man in a black and white striped outfit stood in the corner, the book in his hand. "Who the hell are you and how did you get in here? Forget that, hand over the book and no one gets hurt!"

"Chi chi chi..." the man chuckled.


	13. Nothing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't want to spoil anything, but I must leave a warning here for the end of this chapter. It gets rather dark and that is all I can give away.

“What's with all this 'chi chi chi' crap?” Karma spat at the man. She grabbed her meister's wrist and pulled her up, whispering, “Be ready for a fight. Gonna set the torch down, so get ready for Soul Perception.”

“But you know my Soul Perception isn't that good!” Sayuri whispered frantically.

“Then you better get good at it quick!” Karma shouted, throwing the torch down and transforming into a scythe as the light extinguished itself. She felt Sayuri's hands around her and their odd souls resonate. She watched the beady red eyes of the rats as they scurried around on the floor. The man's own red eyes glowed in the dark.

“Chi chi chi... A weapon-meister pair, huh? I heard your school destroyed one of my sisters. Familiar with the Mizune family?” he asked. The glowing eyes disappeared.

Sayuri closed her eyes and focused on her Soul Perception, searching for the man. Both weapon and meister heard her mantra across the link of their souls: _“Assassin's Rule Number One: Silence._ _Dissolve in the darkness and erase your breath. Wait for an opening to attack your target.”_ The soft glow of a soul appeared, not very clear to the meister, but still there. _“Assassins Rule Number Two - Transpositional Thinking: Analyze the target in order to predict his thoughts and movements."_ Carefully, she lined up her attack, waiting for the perfect moment. _"Assassins Rule Number Three - Speed: Take out the target before the target notices your presence."_ The meister leapt forward, swinging Karma through the air. She heard the cries of a few rats as the blade sliced through them. “But I swear it was him!” she cried.

The man's unique laugh echoed all around them. “I am the rat, Nezumi,” he chuckled. “I am far more powerful than those runts. I don't think you understand what you are up against.”

Karma growled, eager to find the man and end his constant 'chi chi chi'. “What are you waiting for? He's right there! Go after him! 

Once again, Sayuri lined up her attack with Karma's guidance and swung down the scythe only to find she had sliced through more of the vermin. “This isn't working! We need a new approach!” she cried.

“There can only be so many rats down here! Wipe 'em all out if you need to! You can't just do this little 'sit around in silence and analyze your target' crap all the time! This guy's obviously dangerous and needs to be taken out!”

“Slashing blindly isn't going to help us! We need a new plan!” Sayuri stood still, focusing on her surroundings. “ _Think, Sayuri, think! What can we do?”_ Unfortunately, slashing blindly seemed like their only option. Her Soul Perception was not nearly as strong as Michael's or her other fellow meisters. But something seemed off. Now she could not sense the man's soul at all. He had to still be there since his laugh continued to echo. So why could she not sense his soul...?

Suddenly it all made sense. She knew she'd heard about the Mizune sisters somewhere. They were witches. Karma and Sayuri were up against a witch and were definitely not prepared. “We gotta run,” the meister whispered to herself frantically.

“Wait, what? What did you say?” Karma asked.

“No time to explain right now, we gotta go!” Sayuri shouted, swinging Karma around her and taking out a few of the rats closing in.

“Whadya mean?! We can take him!" 

“He's a witch, Karma! A witch!”

“Well shit...” was all the weapon could say. “Alright, you're the meister. Get us outta here.”

“Right!” Sayuri fumbled in the dark, trying to remember the way they had come down into the passage from the surface.

Occasionally she swung the scythe at the rats, Nezumi's voice fading into the distance, “Run away, little girls! I am one of many in Zoida!”

Finally out of the passage, Karma quickly transformed back into her human form, and the two made quick work of blocking the entrance with rubble before the rats caught up to them. “Phew...” Karma breathed, “now I get why people hate rats! Nasty little bastards!”

“He said he was in Zoida,” Sayuri thought aloud. “And there were more. Maybe they're all witches?" 

“Maybe this guy was just a messenger,” the scythe pondered. “Never heard of this 'Zoida' before, so they must be new and looking to pick a fight with weapons and meisters.” 

The meister nodded her head in agreement. “We need to talk to Death about this. None of this sounds good...”

 

…

 

“So, that place is sposed to be all clear, huh?” Karma asked sarcastically. “You realize how much danger we were in? Not that we couldn't take this Nezumi guy down, but he had the element of surprise. Way to just throw us in without a warning.”

“I was unaware that there was anything but vermin down there,” Death replied, shocked at Karma's words.

“Yeah, a hella lot of rats and the Pied Piper.”

“What Karma's trying to say is that we found a witch down there,” Sayuri stepped in. “He said he was a part of this group called 'Zoida'. We found a book that looked kinda like a roster, but it looks like they're missing some members.” 

“Hmm... I see...” Death paced around the room, mulling over the girls' report. “For now, let's keep everything you know about Zoida between you two and I. We don't know enough to start worrying the school. We know one witch is part of the group, but we don't know what else is in the group or what this group plans. I am very sorry you two ran into unexpected trouble on your mission, but thank you for the information you gathered.” He placed a hand on either girl's shoulder. “It's been a long day. You girls should go home and relax, alright?”

Both weapon and meister gave a concerned look to each other, but answered “Yes, sir” nonetheless.

As the two walked down the guillotine hallway, Sayuri spoke up. “Sorry I kinda pulled the meister card on you.”

Karma shrugged. “Woulda had our asses kicked if you hadn't gotten us out of there. Who am I kidding, we aren't ready to face a witch yet.”

“Someday we'll be strong enough to beat one!” Sayuri said, suddenly upbeat. “I'll make you a Death Scythe in no time, Karma!”

“Heh, I look forward to it!” the scythe replied with a grin. “So this where we part ways? Gonna have Tsubaki make anything special for dinner?”

“I could have died! Mom will make me anything I bet!” the meister giggled. A serious look crossed her face. “I... hope things are better when you get home...”

“Yeah... if he's gone, my night will be made. See ya, Sayuri." 

“Night.”

Karma gave a slight wave as she watched her meister walk away. “Please just let him be a dream,” she whispered. “Dunno what I'll do if he's not...” 

She made her way home, only stopping once she stood in front of her front door. Fumbling with her house keys, she readied herself, hoping to see that everything was as it should be. Slowly she opened the door and walked into her home. She walked into the scene of a happy family, Maka and Michael laughing at something Soul had said. It was just too much for the girl.

“Why the hell is he still here?!” Karma shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at Soul.

“Karma, that is enough!” he shouted back at her. “Did I screw up? Yes. But I'm trying! You won't let me try! Let me be a father again! Let us be a family again!”

“You will never be my father! You never were and you never will be!”

Maka stepped between her husband and daughter and glared at her. “Enough,” she said sternly. “We are a family, and I expect you to act as such." 

“If being a family means letting him back into our lives, then maybe I don't want to be a family!”

“Then leave!” Maka shrieked.

The scythe couldn't believe her ears. Her loving mother... wanted her to leave...?

“If you hate being here so much, then get out. Be part of our family or leave. Your choice,” Maka said sternly.

Tears threatened to spill over, but he girl wouldn't allow herself to cry in front of him. Without another word, she ran. It was obvious no one wanted her there. No one tried to stop her. No one asked her mother to take back what she'd said. No one loved her...

She found herself at the wall on the edge of the forest overlooking Death City. Aside from Stein's laboratory, it was her favorite place to get away and collect her thoughts. Climbing up on the wall to take a seat, Karma felt how heavy and numb her heart was. She'd never experienced such a feeling before. Tears continued to stream down her face, but her sadness was replaced with emptiness and numbness. She stared down at her arms. She wanted to feel human again.

The scythe rolled up her left sleeve and stared at the skin on her arm. She brushed her skin lightly with the fingers on her right hand and though _“Could it make me feel again...?”_ Transforming her right arm into the blade of her scythe form, she stared at her reflection and watched the tears staining her face. Carefully, she glided the sharp blade across her wrist, wincing at the pain. Little, warm beads of blood appeared. She could feel again. The pain was, in a weird way, almost comforting. She felt human again... 

“Karma!” a familiar voice called out to her. “Karma, please, I'm sorry! Come home!”

“Mom?” Karma whispered, turning around to find her mother searching the forest for her.

“Karma!” Maka ran towards Karma and pulled her into a hug. “I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean a word of what I said! I can't take this family falling apart anymore!” she sobbed. “Please, all I ask is that you give him a chance, however small a chance it is. I can't sit back and watch my family tear itself apart... please...”

Karma slowly wrapped her arms around her mother, pulling on her sleeve to cover the wound she had just inflicted on herself. “Okay, mom...” she whispered. _“I'm no better than he is... making her cry like this...”_ she thought. The small trickle of blood from her wound turned black, hardened, and closed up the wound without the scythe knowing.


End file.
